Participated · Series A · Jun 2019

Cylus builds CylusOne, a rail cybersecurity platform that offers continuous monitoring and 360-degree real-time protection for mainline and urban railway systems. The platform enables real-time threat detection, advanced forensics, mitigation, and simplified security operations while integrating with new and legacy systems without network-architecture changes. CylusOne installs in a few hours with zero downtime and claims full visibility within seconds. The company announced a $30M Series B and said total funding now exceeds $57M; it did not disclose a post-money valuation. Cylus plans to use the capital to expand globally across North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific and to hire specialists in cybersecurity, traffic management and onboard/trackside systems. The company also intends to strengthen its AI and machine learning capabilities and has announced a strategic partnership with Alstom to protect the Tel-Aviv red line’s signaling and train control systems. Cylus is an Israel-based company founded in 2017 that develops cybersecurity solutions tailored to the railway sector. Its flagship product, CylusOne, is designed for the diversity and complexity of rail and metro environments and protects signalling, control, communications, trackside and onboard systems. CylusOne uses machine learning to speed detection of malware and artificial intelligence to determine behaviour and handle responses. The system is compatible with CBTC and ETCS and is intended for both mainline and urban networks to maximize performance, capacity and availability. Cylus entered a commercial partnership with Alstom, which invested US$7 million for a minority stake and will take one board seat; the technology is slated for initial implementation on the Tel Aviv metropolitan light rail system serving about 200,000 passengers a day. The partnership aims to integrate cybersecurity into rail processes and solutions globally and to help drive cyber-resilience standards for mobility. Cylus is a Tel Aviv-based company that develops cybersecurity solutions for railways and metro operators. Its core product, CylusOne, detects threats across signalling and control networks, as well as trackside and onboard systems, enabling timely responses before harm occurs. The company says rail systems have become technologically advanced and face growing cyberattack threats. Cylus reports established relationships with key players in the rail industry and growing partnerships with leading rail operators. Financially, Cylus secured $12 million in its latest funding round from Cyient, Cerca Partners, GlenRock, and FollowTheSeed, bringing total funding to $17 million to date. Cylus develops a platform that enables rail companies to detect cyber-attacks in their operational networks, including signaling systems and rolling stock, and to block attackers before they can cause damage. Key platform features include enhanced security that preserves existing safety mechanisms, centralized operational visibility through a unique interface that makes trackside and trainborne devices visible to operators, multi-vendor integrated systems protection to identify weak links, and preemptive threat response. The company targets railways and metros and is led by CEO Amir Levintal, formerly director of the IDF Cyber R&D Division; Boaz Zafrir serves as president and is a former CEO of Israel Railways. Cylus was founded in 2017 by veterans of the Israeli Defense Forces' Intelligence Corps' technological intelligence and security units. As of January 2018 the company raised $4.7M in seed funding from investors including Zohar Zisapel, Magma Venture Partners, Vertex Ventures and the SBI Group. The platform's focus on safety-integrated cybersecurity and multi-vendor support positions it to serve operators seeking centralized visibility and proactive defense.

Participated · Equity · Oct 2017

Cozitrip provides an online platform that allows Chinese travel agents to book Australian hotel rooms in bulk and at the same time, streamlining a traditionally manual process. The product is designed to help local hoteliers promote their brands to the billion-dollar Chinese tourism market and accommodate cultural preferences for personalized service. Cozitrip went live in China with technical support from Alibaba Cloud and operates from the Haymarket HQ startup incubator in Sydney. Founders Ping Wu and Rinat Sadykov bring deep technical backgrounds—Wu with 20+ years at Global 500 companies and Sadykov as a former Atlassian developer. The company has raised AUD$2 million to date to develop and expand its platform. Cozitrip focuses on connecting Chinese agents, who often rely on personal interaction, to Australian accommodation supply more efficiently.

Participated · Series B · Oct 2016

Workspot offers an Azure-native, turnkey cloud desktop fabric that delivers Windows 10 desktops and GPU workstations at the edge of the cloud region nearest users. Its SaaS solution features flat per-user pricing, rapid provisioning (desktops can be provisioned in five minutes via ITSM integration), and global scalability across cloud regions. The product targets enterprises moving away from on-premises VDI by offering customizability, simplified management and on-demand scale. Workspot reported more than 300% cloud business growth in the past year (318% stated) and a net revenue retention rate of 171%. To support continued expansion, the company is increasing investments in worldwide sales, marketing, research & development, and customer success. The company cites customer wins across use cases including faster drone-data processing, improved disaster recovery, and real-time collaboration for multi-company projects. Workspot provides virtual desktop infrastructure that delivers apps, desktops and data to mobile devices, Macs and PCs. Led by CEO Amitabh Sinha and based in Cupertino, California, the company serves enterprises across government, healthcare and education verticals. It connects users to apps and data while leveraging existing investments in the datacenter and without migrating data to the cloud. Workspot has announced partnerships with hyper-converged infrastructure vendors including Nutanix, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Scale Computing and Atlantis Computing. The company raised $6.2m in a Series B and intends to use the funds to continue to expand operations. Workspot builds a virtual desktop platform that lets employees open a client or app, enter a PIN, and access a full desktop with business apps, files and a VPN. The platform supports PCs, mobile devices and recently added Mac support to accommodate organizations and executives using Apple products. Workspot differentiates by allowing clients to run its platform without installing new servers or moving apps and data into third‑party clouds, which the company says avoids security and complexity issues associated with services like Amazon WorkSpaces. The company plans to use new funding to improve its technology, expand an enterprise sales team targeting Global 2000 companies and add more users at existing mid‑sized and Fortune 500 clients. Workspot is Cupertino‑based and raised $5 million in new funding led by Helion Ventures, with participation from Translink Capital and Qualcomm Ventures. Co-founder and CEO Amitabh Sinha emphasized that IT does not need to move business apps or data to use Workspot's solution. Workspot provides a Workspace-as-a-Service solution that lets firms deliver core business apps and data on personal mobile devices. It offers Workspot Control, a cloud-based management solution for IT administrators, and a mobile Workspot app for Android and iOS end users. The unified workspace allows end users to access data and apps behind a firewall from any mobile device. Founded in 2012 and launched in April 2013, the company is based in Cupertino, California. Workspot says it will use the Series A proceeds to scale operations. Prior to this round, the company had raised a $3.3M seed round. Workspot offers a consumer app (available through the iOS App Store) that enables employees to access corporate applications behind company firewalls on their personal devices. The app requires a one-time authentication with the employer's network security appliance and supports four leading VPN providers, including Cisco and Juniper, which the article says cover about 80% of the market. Employers can add apps for employees via a control dashboard in a matter of minutes, while end-users receive the product for free. Workspot monetizes through two paid employer services: Insights (analytics into software usage) and Events (visibility for compliance and auditing), with pricing ranging from $150 per month for 0–25 users to $4 per user per month for companies with more than 250 employees. The company has raised $1.9 million from Kleiner Perkins, Norwest Venture Partners, Redpoint and others and has 11 employees. Leadership includes CEO Amitabh Sinha (formerly at Citrix), CTO Puneet Chawla (formerly at VMware and an EIR at Redpoint) and co-founder Ty Wang (formerly at Twilio and Oracle), and the team is positioning the product to simplify bring-your-own-device adoption. Workspot debuted at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York.

Led · Equity · Sep 2016

ClassCover operates an automated platform that allows schools to book relief teachers. Launched in 2012, the startup now operates in Australia and New Zealand. The app has over 35,000 teachers using it and covers roughly 15% of addressable schools in Australia. ClassCover was selected as the first investment by Follow[the]Seed after the fund’s proprietary RavingFans algorithm identified it. The algorithm is designed to find early-stage, habit-forming consumer products that can change user behaviour. Follow[the]Seed poured $600,000 into ClassCover in the fund's inaugural investment.